


The Last of Us

by noodlecatposts



Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Post-Zombie Apocalypse, Throne of Glass Meets the Last of Us AU, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:40:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25222558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noodlecatposts/pseuds/noodlecatposts
Summary: Throne of Glass meets the Zombie-Apocalypse world of the Last of Us.
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien & Rowan Whitethorn, Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	The Last of Us

**Author's Note:**

> sooo, this little thing takes place in the universe of the last of us, an apocalypse/zombie video game. i beat the sequel a few weeks ago and immediately hashed this out to work through my feelings. ha, it’s not a feel good universe, and neither is this fic really. you don’t really need to know anything about the game, nor will this spoil anything within the game.

_**What happened?** _

The first time Rowan speaks, Aelin doesn’t even register the sound of his cold, hard voice. The events of the day have left her stunned and numb, and she still hasn’t recovered. Aelin still can’t believe that everything went so horribly wrong so quickly.

“Aelin.” Calloused fingers take hold of her chin and yank her face, not unkindly up towards the yellowed, cracked ceiling of their classroom turned bedroom. Aelin only sees worried pine green eyes looking down at her.

For a long, tense moment, the pair holds one another’s gaze in silence. Rowan’s thumb darts across Aelin’s cheek, teasing the bruised and sallow skin beneath her eye. She hisses at the contact, jerking away from the hurt, and freeing her face from his hands.

Aelin decides to train her gaze on the desk to her left, in the opposite direction of Rowan’s hovering form. The book she started reading this morning still rests there, her page marked by an old training card. For what game, Aelin has no idea. She doesn’t recognize it from anything in her past life. Her life from before.

With a sigh, Rowan sinks into the mattress beside her. Aelin’s body tips towards him from the shift in weight; months ago, Aelin would have made it a point to lean away from him, if she didn’t get off of the bed altogether to keep her distance from him, to keep from touching a stranger.

Now, Aelin relishes in his warmth. Her eyes fall closed as she leans into his side and rests her head atop his shoulder. Aelin inhales deeply, ignoring the smell of sweat and dirt that clings to both of their skin; her exhale is a ragged thing, rough with emotion and stress.

“What happened to you, Aelin?”

It’s such a simple question, and yet, it’s so, so complicated. Rowan’s fists clench and unclench as he waits for her answer. Aelin must be shell-shocked. She can still hear the ringing in her ears from the blow she took to her face.

A hand falls to her knee, a silent supplication. It rests there lightly. Heavily. Squeezes once. Aelin’s mind zeroes in on the sensation and uses it to center her mind. 

Rowan’s here. Aelin is safe. She’s—home?

 _Home._ Is that what she should call this abandoned school they’ve turned into a dormitory? These people found—rescued—captured them a few months ago, but they saw the pairs worth and kept them, put them to work for their “cause.” 

The cause is merely staying alive, but at what cost?

It could have been a handful of days ago that Aelin and Rowan were out on their own. Maybe it was a year ago. Time seems rather meaningless after the end of the world. She misses that time, loved it despite the lack of food and security and beds with blankets and books.

“Are you going to make me guess?” Rowan asks. His tone is changing, filling with impatience; Aelin knows it’s only because he’s worried—because he cares.

When they first arrived, the people in charge assigned them each gender-appropriate roommates. Aelin was placed on an all-female hall, and Rowan was the opposite. Protocol, they told them. Nothing to worry about, they insisted. 

But they did worry. Rowan worried so much that he started sleeping in the hall outside her bedroom, and when Aelin found out, she started sleeping out there, too. The higher-ups weren’t as amused at the people living on Aelin’s hall.

Within a week, Aelin and Rowan had a room together.

 _I apologize_ , Arobynn told them, not looking sorry in the least. His admiring gaze lingered on Aelin longer than necessary, appraising her in her new, clean clothes and washed face. _I hadn’t realized you two were… together._

 _We aren’t._ Rowan replied without missing a beat. He didn’t realize, hasn’t realized, the window he was leaving cracked, the opening he’d left behind for Arobynn, only to be used when Aelin was alone. 

“Do we need to… leave?” Rowan asks, voice carefully void of emotion. His words bring her back to the present, and she turns her blue-gold eyes on him, drinking in his stoic face. She knows he’s made friends here, the beginnings of a life here. Aelin has too. 

_Run_ is what he means to say. 

Aelin sighs. “No—it’s fine. Things got heated. I—asked for it.”

Rowan’s eyes promise trouble. “Who hurt you?”

“Nobody,” she lies easily. Rowan can surely tell, but it’s better this way for everyone involved. Whatever name Aelin gives, true or false, will take a beating for this black eye on her face, but Aelin doesn’t want to risk their place here. Not for a temper tantrum. 

She meets his disbelieving expression with a self-deprecating smile. “I—tripped. You know how I’m never paying attention.”

“You’re a horrible liar,” he grits out after too long of a moment. 

Aelin drops her head back to his shoulder, savoring the feeling of his body next to hers. She’s exhausted. Maybe now that Rowan is back from his scouting trip, Aelin can get some sleep. 

“Everything is fine,” she lies one more time.


End file.
